DBT

-Marsha. M. Linehan
DBT is a mixture of behaviorism, CBT, and Zen Buddhism. Linehan sums up the DBT philosophy as Youre perfectnow change. She says, When I began developing DBT, I was going to save the most miserable people in the world Im a highly emotional person, which helps me understand DBT clients. Linehan consulted spiritual leaders, eventually borrowing the Zen concepts of radical acceptance and mindfulness. People who meet the criteria for BPD almost always hate themselves, she says, so I figured I needed to accept them myself, and then teach them how to accept themselves. If you dont accept yourself as you are, you cant change. Its a paradox, but true. Radical acceptance is essential to recovery Radical acceptance is a theory that relates to the word dialectic. It means that before you can move toward positive change, you must accept yourself without judgment or blaming. Radical acceptance is a lifetime project for all of us, not just those with BPD. For example, lets say that every time a young man loses a relationship, he curses himself for falling apart for months, sobbing, panicking at the thought of being alone, and needing to rush into another relationship. Everyone tells him to get over it already, be a man about it, and log on to Match.com. He suffers both the end of the relationship and the shame of his vulnerability. Radical acceptance, Linehan says, will release him from the shame. This is the way I was made, he could tell himself calmly. I wish it wasnt the case. Ironically, once we release our judgments about ourselves, we can truly move forward. The website LotusInTheMud.com explains it this way: One of the deepest forms of suffering in our culture is the pain of feeling that "something is wrong with me." Radical acceptance is the capacity to see clearly what is happening in the moment, and to accept what we see with love. Mindfulness is a Key to Managing Emotions Pain of any kind is bad enough. Depending upon how deep the injury, anger, frustration, grief, and other emotions can overwhelm us. Mindfulness says that we should step back for a moment, observe whats happening inside and all around us, and live and breathe in that moment --not the past or the

future. Youd be amazed how much suffering is due to thinking about the future or ruminating about the past, Linehan says. For example: At a reunion, you see your first love, your old girlfriend who broke up with you many years ago. You notice the familiar pangs in your stomach. You even recognize other emotions; the thankfulness and the sorrow that youll never be that young and innocent again. You let it flow though you, then choose to let it pass rather than dwell on the breakup. Mindfulness also means living in the moment during the good times. Its taking a walk through the park and being totally in the moment, forgetting about everything else on your plate. Its taking time to notice the shape of the clouds and the blue of the sky as you walk from the parking lot to your destination. Mindfulness is also a great coping tool for non-BPs.
 An 'emotionally vulnerable' person in this sense is someone whose autonomic nervous system reacts excessively to relatively low levels of stress and takes longer than normal to return to baseline once the stress is removed.  The term 'Invalidating Environment' refers essentially to a situation in which the personal experiences and responses of the growing child are disqualified or "invalidated" by the significant others in her life. PATIENTS' CHARACTERISTICS dysregulation in the sphere of emotions, relationships, behaviour, cognition and the sense of self. six typical patterns of behavior:

 They are aware of their difficulty coping with stress and may blame others for having unrealistic expectations and making unreasonable demands. On the other hand they have internalised the characteristics of the Invalidating Environment and tend to show 'selfinvalidation'. They invalidate their own responses and have unrealistic goals and expectations, feeling ashamed and angry with themselves when they experience difficulty or fail to achieve their goals. These two features constitute the first pair of so-called 'dialectical dilemmas', the patient's position tending to swing between the opposing poles since each extreme is experienced as being distressing.
 Next, they tend to experience frequent traumatic environmental events, in part related to their own dysfunctional lifestyle and exacerbated by their extreme emotional reactions with delayed return to baseline. This results in what Linehan refers to as a pattern of 'unrelenting crisis', one

crisis following another before the previous one has been resolved. On the other hand, because of their difficulties with emotion modulation, they are unable to face, and therefore tend to inhibit, negative affect and particularly feelings associated with loss or grief. This 'inhibited grieving' and the 'unrelenting crisis' constitute the second 'dialectical dilemma'.  The opposite poles of the final dilemma are referred to as 'active passivity' and 'apparent competence'. Patients with BPD are active in finding other people who will solve their problems for them but are passive in relation to solving their own problems. On the other hand, they have learned to give the impression of being competent in response to the Invalidating Environment. In some situations they may indeed be competent but their skills do not generalise across different situations and are dependent on the mood state of the moment. This extreme mood dependency is seen as being a typical feature of patients with BPD.

DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOUR THERAPY  The term 'dialectical' is derived from classical philosophy. It refers to a form of argument in which an assertion is first made about a particular issue (the 'thesis'), the opposing position is then formulated (the 'antithesis' ) and finally a 'synthesis' is sought between the two extremes, embodying the valuable features of each position and resolving any contradictions between the two. This synthesis then acts as the thesis for the next cycle. In this way truth is seen as a process which develops over time in transactions between people. From this perspective there can be no statement representing absolute truth. Truth is approached as the middle way between extremes.  The dialectical viewpoint underlies the entire structure of therapy, the key dialectic being 'acceptance' on the one hand and 'change' on the other. Thus DBT includes specific techniques of acceptance and validation designed to counter the self-invalidation of the patient. These are balanced by techniques of problem solving to help her learn more adaptive ways of dealing with her difficulties and acquire the skills to do so. THERAPIST CHARACTERISTICS IN DBT The therapist is asked to accept a number of working assumptions about the patient that will establish the required attitude for therapy: 1. The patient wants to change and, in spite of appearances, is trying her best at any particular time. 2. Her behaviour pattern is understandable given her background and present circumstances. Her life may currently not be worth living (however, the therapist will never agree that suicide is the appropriate solution but always stays on the side of life. The solution is rather to try and make life more worth living). 3. In spite of this she needs to try harder if things are ever to improve. She may not be entirely to blame for the way things are but it is her personal responsibility to make them different. 4. Patients can not fail in DBT. If things are not improving it is the treatment that is failing.

Linehan has a particular dislike for the word "manipulative" as commonly applied to these patients. She points out that this implies that they are skilled at managing other people when it is precisely the opposite that is true. Also the fact that the therapist may feel manipulated does not necessarily imply that this was the intention of the patient. It is more probable that the patient did not have the skills to deal with the situation more effectively. The therapist relates to the patient in two dialectically opposed styles. The primary style of relationship and communication is referred to as 'reciprocal communication', a style involving responsiveness, warmth and genuineness on the part of the therapist. Appropriate self-disclosure is encouraged but always with the interests of the patient in mind. The alternative style is referred to as 'irreverent communication'. This is a more confrontational and challenging style aimed at bringing the patient up with a jolt in order to deal with situations where therapy seems to be stuck or moving in an unhelpful direction. It will be observed that these two communication styles form the opposite ends of another dialectic and should be used in a balanced way as therapy proceeds.

1. Decreasing suicidal behaviours. 2. Decreasing therapy interfering behaviours. 3. Decreasing behaviours that interfere with the quality of life. 4. Increasing behavioural skills. 5. Decreasing behaviours related to post-traumatic stress. 6. Improving self esteem. 7. Individual targets negotiated with the patient.

The core strategies in DBT are 'validation' and 'problem solving'. Attempts to facilitate change are surrounded by interventions that validate the patient's behaviour and responses as understandable in relation to her current life situation, and that show an understanding of her difficulties and suffering. Problem solving focuses on the establishment of necessary skills. If the patient is not dealing with her problems effectively then it is to be anticipated either that she does not have the necessary skills to do so, or does have the skills but is prevented from using them. If she does not have the skills then she will need to learn them. This is the purpose of the skills training. 1. Core mindfulness skills.

The interpersonal effectiveness module is designed to decrease patientsinterpersonal chaos and decrease their fear of abandonment by teaching patients to have a more positive outlook about their environment, their relationships, and themselves. The content of this module are very similar to that of an assertiveness class,with lessons in: Asking others to meet their needs is a more positive manner Asserting ones limits.
2. Interpersonal effectiveness skills.

Implementing strategies for keeping relationships going well. The goal of the emotion regulation module is decreasing the intensity of patients anger, fear, shame, and sadness. Linehan says, To try to stop being so emotional and fit in with less emotionally sensitive people, clients who meet criteria for BPD have often learned to ignore their emotions and really dont know how they are feeling until they are completely taken over by anemotion. 4. Distress tolerance skills: One method is opposite action, such as doing something nice for someone youre angry with. Another is observing and describing emotions such as sensing your body changes and examining your assumptions, beliefs, andappraisals about the situation.
3. Emotion modulation skills.